ministers of trade. you don't have the finance people. this is the first time to my knowledge that in a multilateral trade deal they did bring in the treasury secretary and the finance folks to come up with a currency commission. but my colleague is absolutely right, it is not legally binding or enforceable. all 12 countries agreed that they would not manipulate their currency for competitive advantage, but it is not -- it's not covered under dispute resolution. one point i should make though is that right now the u.s. treasury department can determine and can call out a country for manipulating currency. but they haven't. and there are reasons for that. one other issue we should note is that in tpp this is a reciprocal agreement. so whatever we ask them to do, we are agreeing to do the same.

and when we have very long discussions about how to make currency -- put currency in there and make it binding, our treasury guys were quite frustrated because from their view they did not want to give up that policy space. can you imagine congress allowing foreign countries to sanction our fiscal policy? that's what putting binding currency provisions in a trade agreement would do. and while, again, we agree currency is a real issue. we would like to see whether it's g-20, g-7, the imf, a financial body, not a trade body. >> another question? >> will you ever eliminate foreign governments -- it is good thing to do for a foreign country. we should do for the same reason -- lobbyists in

washington [ inaudible ] >> as an american who lived abroad two decades of my career, i can tell you we play by rules nobody else in the world does. and, you know, our companies, our farmers, your constituents are disadvantaged. it is our belief that tpp -- it's not a perfect agreement, but we think it moves -- it makes it closer to a more level playing field. >> if i could just make a brief comment about currency. this is -- we've now put a real sharp point on the problem. and it is this. currency manipulation doesn't belong in trade agreements. it belongs with the finance ministers or with the imf or someone said with the world bank or the u.n. problem is every one of those guys says, no, it's not our problem. and what vehicle do we have in

this space to deal with it? a majority for the first time ever a majority of both houses of congress relative to tpp said they want currency dealt with in a trade agreement. is it perfect that it belongs -- who knows where the perfect place is. fact of the matter is if you don't have it some place, and you don't have binding protocols that are in place, you're just -- we're going to talk about this for another 40 years while we continue to see defi t deficits getting ever deeper. and that is a real problem in this country. >> any other questions? panel, fascinating. thank you very much. [ applause ] this week on c-span, the supreme court cases that shaped our history come to life with the c-span series "landmark cases: historic supreme court decisions." our 12-part series explores real

life stories and constitutional dramas behind some of the most significant decisions in american history. >> this is a story and a case about presidential power and its limits during times of war. and it puts before the courts central themes about the conditions into which presidents during times of emergency can do things that may not be expressly stated in the constitution. and the limits that congress and the courts can place on it. >> chief justice rhenquist reaffi reaffirmed, miranda, he said as you did in your opening the case has become accepted by the culture. how many cases can we say about that? >> it was a sweeping decision. it aisolated the u.s. as one of only four nations across the globe that allow abortions after fetal liability and yet still hasn't settled the issue at all. >> tonight we'll look at the case miranda v. arizona which ruled suspects must be informed of their rights before they're questioned, the right against self-in crimination and the right to an attorney.

watch "landmark cases" tonight on c-span and c-span.org. the national lieutenant governors association held its annual meeting to examine ways to advance federal-state relations. this portion of the event included a panel discussion on veterans issues including mental health care, homelessness and job placement. the discussion is about an hour. >> absolutely. thank you, governor blackburn, that was a great session. i would like to ask director blackburn and general eggert to come on up to the stage. i know that this is an issue that lieutenant governors are leading on nationally. and before i was elected

lieutenant governor, i actually for a short time as lieutenant governor i continued to serve as an officer in the pennsylvania army national guard. and as a judge advocate. so i got a chance to serve with folks who have been to war and also get a lot of exposure to our veterans. as lieutenant governor i wanted to find a way to connect more and more with folks from the military and veterans. i toured all of our major military installations in pennsylvania, and asked a lot of questions and listened. and one of the things that we found out that was that we have to get a little bit better at communicating with our veteran community and connecting with them to the programs that they are vitally in need of. and so it's a fundamental issue of communication. so our next panelists, and i have the privilege of introducing them, are going to

talk about that vital issue of these our folks, our heroes that we're really interested in finding ways to support them and serve them as they've done for us. so join me in welcoming director scott blackburn of the my va task force in the u.s. department of veterans affairs. [ applause ] that's you, buddy. >> except we made a change because we're going to play off of each other. >> is that okay with everybody? it's not in my script. >> is he adaptable? >> i'm adaptable. >> who the heck are you? >> if he's in my state i might be in trouble. >> there's no question about that. okay, with that -- with all hell breaking loose now here. so we're going to have -- beforehand we're going to have

carol eggert. and she is a retired general and vice president of military and veterans affairs. she's from pennsylvania. and the panelists are going to play off each other, so with that, general, take over. [ applause ] >> that's what you get when you put a panelist and a director -- i mean a general and a director on the panel. thank you, lieutenant governor. i appreciate that. thanks for having me here. and i must say it's retired general, which really sounds good to me. although i really enjoyed my time serving with the pennsylvania national guard as well as the deputy commandant at the army work college. it's also great to switch over and serve the public sector. i consider it to be continued service. i was asked to speak today about some of the challenges of our transitioning veterans, because i've seen both sides of it. both as an individual who did in fact transition and then as one

in the private sector who is assisting our veterans. so it's important to understand that every year about a quarter of a million, 250,000 veterans return to our communities across america. a 2014 study revealed that the general population considers our veterans as broken heroes who are more likely than nonveterans to be unemployed, undereducated, homeless, experiencing mental health issues. but the reality however is so much different and much more complex. and it's important that we all challenge these claims in order to change the public perceptions of our veterans. these are not broken heroes. i like to think of them as hidden heroes. are there any veterans in the room? can you stand up if you are?

[ applause ] i know. thank you. i'm so excited, he joined us at comcast, does he look like an air force pilot to you? so he's hidden -- i mean, other than he always wears blue suits. i don't quite get that. but he joined us. he's a c-130 j pilot in the rhode island national guard. you would never know it. so i think of them as hidden heroes. but i would add that i think i can speak for most veterans that we certainly don't consider ourselves heroes. we're doing our jobs for our nation, grant it the public tends to call us that. but i don't think you'll ever hear any of us calling ourselves that. so they're not broken heroes. the majority of veterans return home seeking new challenges and new opportunities. they're looking for ways to continue to serve their community and their country. so just think about it, almost half of today's veterans were members of the all-volunteer force. so it makes sense these were individuals who volunteered to serve in uniform, so it follows

that when they return home they'd volunteer to serve their communities. and they're uniquely qualified to do just that. they are experienced, their leadership abilities, their training, their very honed skill sets position them to continue to seek solutions to the challenges that face our communities. in recent years we have seen veterans leading across the nation very important movements. think of disaster relief and community preparedness, what do you think of? team rubicon. what do you think of promoting physical fitness, who ran across the nation with the flag? team red, white and blue. combatting homelessness, the 100,000 homes campaign, increasing educational attainment our student veterans of america. so these folks have come back, and these are just a few of the incredible organizations and they've come back and continued to serve. but too often negative stereotypes about our veterans

dominate the public dialogue. the average american believes that in general veterans are significantly more likely than nonveterans as i said to experience unemployment, incarceration, homelessness and various other issues. and these notions are in fact misconceptions. they paint, as i said, a picture of veterans as broken. and as a result many of us feel pity much more than we feel respect. and i think of them as hidden heroes. and so we need to make sure we understand who they are among us. and highlight their contributions to our communities and our nation. a great report is out there that i recommend you all read. 215 veteran civic health index. it was a report prepared in partnership with american express, got your six, the william flora hewlett foundation

and the purpose of this report was to foster understanding and i quote, the civic strengths of the veteran population and provide a data informed platform through which to eliminate the misconceptions about veterans. so i'd like to cite some of their findings. employment. the veteran employment rate has been below the nonveteran rate every year for the last decade. from 2015 to 2014 the average unadjusted nonveteran unemployment rate was 13% higher than the veteran rate. income. from 2005 to 2013 veterans have consistently earned significantly more than nonveterans. homelessness, nonveterans comprise 91% of the homeless population while veterans comprise 8%. there are 578,000 homeless individuals across the u.s., and almost 50,000 of them are veterans. so that's a small portion of the total homeless population.

post-traumatic stress disorder, which many veterans like to think of it as post-traumatic stress and not call it a mental disorder. there's a movement out there to eliminate the disorder descriptor of that. the u.s. department of veteran affairs estimates that only between 11% and 20% of veterans experience ptsd, even when considering at the highest end of that 20%, this is a very broad spectrum. it's still true that the vast majority of veterans do not experience ptsd. but many of americans think it's much higher. if somebody popped the microphone right now or spilled over a glass of water and it made a loud noise, dave, what would happen to me? he's observed it, i have a hyperstartle reflex. i can't stop it. i don't know why it's there, but do i have ptsd? does it impact my ability to contribute to my community? that's the other issue.

veterans might have some of these, but i was also bitten by a large german shepherd and every time i go past a german shepherd my leg hurts. so do i have ptsd? let's be careful how we define this. ptsd is a human condition, not a veteran condition. 5.2 million adults experience it during a given year. and about 7.8% of the population with ptsd of the total population will have ptsd at some point in their lives. education. four-year college completion rates are higher among nonveterans than veterans, 33% of nonveterans complete college. and 28% of veterans. however, veterans participate in the g.i. bill are completing degree programs on par with their nonveteran counterparts. think about the veteran population. there are 21.3 million veterans in the united states. that's 9% of the adult population. the median age of all veterans

is 62 years old. in general veterans are more likely than nonveterans to be married, more likely to have completed high school and more likely to go on and progress through college. though veterans are far more likely than nonveterans to have some college experience, they are less likely than nonveterans to have completed and have a four-year degree. however, that same trend does not exist for female, hispanic and african-american veterans, however. in fact, veterans in these groups display significantly better educational profiles than their nonveteran counterparts. additionally veterans participating in the g.i. bill program as i said complete at the same rate as traditional students. so when i cite these statistics, i am not saying we should not continue to help our veterans. what i'm saying is we need to look at the rest of the veteran

population. the narrative focuses on those veterans with homelessness, unemployment, ptsd. but sometimes we forget to enrich the lives of those veterans who are returning so that they can continue to contribute to society. so please don't go out of here saying get rid of all those programs assisting our veterans. that's not what i'm saying. i'm saying let's widen the -- and look at all the healthy, contributing, enhanced resilient veterans out there helping our communities. and they are in fact civically more healthy than nonveterans. they consistently show higher levels of community engagement. in fact, over the last century veterans from all generations have outpaced the general population in their habits of civic responsibility. they show more mature civic engagement as indicated by their involvement in their communities. service to the community includes both formal and informal volunteering, which is

an important indicator of civic health. not only do they deliver critical services through volunteer but they are also much more likely to participate in the political process than the nonveteran population. and our young veterans have the highest rate of volunteering among all americans. but despite the facts that i just shared with you, a discussion which was sponsored by madille national security initiative indicated veterans entering the job market or going to college suffer severe stigmatism that they are likely to have mental and emotional problems and that very myth is holding them back to attaining full contribution and meeting the potential that they have. many voices are calling for this narrative to be changed. and it is improving. think about organizations like

got your six. they are dedicated to responsible reflection of veterans in the media and entertainment industry. this very report is often cited. i think it was just cited by our undersecretary of the army, acting secretary of the army patrick murphy. so we are changing that narrative. so i want to share with you the final recommendations from this report. we must all challenge these stereotypes, dispel the myths and recognize our veterans and their civic leadership. so when we talk about some of the challenges facing veterans, let's talk about the other side. and those veterans who are helping their partners in facing some of those challenges. we can all take a moment and learn about military history and the veteran experience. read the books, watch the movies, watch the videos, there's a great one out recently. anybody see "the american experience"? i think it comes on friday nights or pbs. they just did one about the evacuation of hanoi and saigon.

it's amazing to watch. but not everybody takes the time to watch these. so take a moment to understand that and engage veterans in conversations. don't just say thanks for your service. say what are you doing now? what did you do? destigmatize mental illness. nonveterans and veterans and institutions must work together to change the cultural narrative about veterans. and there's something that we can do also as veterans. we need to tell our own stories. i often refer to this story, when i go to the home depot -- pass a general officer we had the placards on our windshield in order to get on and off base. mine has a star saying i could get in and out of carlisle army base and i haven't gotten around to try to get the stuff that gets it off. so when i get out of my car if i'm there alone to pick up whatever it is you always forget

when you're doing a home project, someone will come up to me and say -- very often someone will come up to me and say, oh, where did your husband serve? now, i get a little irritated. and i usually say, oh he served in world war i. just to see if they can do the math. and then i say, okay. let me help get the story out there. and i stop and i explain that i've served in the military and that my husband supported me throughout those many 30-some years of service, and i tell the story. do i feel like doing it? no. but we must reduce the civil military divide. and we have to stop telling our stories only to each other. if you go to a meeting like this, this is unusual actually, but if you go to a panel about veterans, guess who's in the room? who are we talking to. >> host: we're talking to veterans. people that like us, that like

our story, that think we're wonderful. we just pat each other on the back. we are not moving the needle. so go to those organizations that don't particularly want you to be there, tell the story, dispel the myths, and let's change that narrative. my own recommendation then of course is get out there and tell your stories. i have one resource i'd like to share with the lieutenant governors, and that's your assets right in your backyard. and that is the reserve and your national guard forces. these servicemen and women live in both worlds. but they often are asked to keep them very separate. anecdotally i can tell you that almost 75% of the people i speak to have no clue what the guard and reserve is, nor do they understand the difference between the guard around the reserve, the difference between these two components. so i ask you to showcase their

contributions in your states, allow them to be ambassadors that will reduce this civil/military divide. profile them. they can put on a suit or they can put on their uniform and they can speak to both groups. but let's bring them out and let's show that they are interconnected. right now we have several national guard units activated. colorado just activated their guard for the blizzard. oklahoma national guard is out supporting wildlife suppression -- not wildlife suppression -- wildfire suppression. don't quote me. back that tape up! i'm in trouble. wisconsin just activated the national guard today for storms. michigan national guard has been activated for the flint water crisis. louisiana, we have them activated for the floods. we have them activated for drug interdiction missions. and that doesn't even touch on all those guard and air guard units that are on standby for

operation noble eagle to protect the skies over america, over our homeland. they are all ready to go up and scramble at a moment's notice. so i ask all of you to share their story. you've got the power to bring them out. they report to you and your governor. so please showcase them. so thank you for taking a few moments to share this and i'm hoping you will help us get the word out, and slowly we will lessen that civil/military divide. thanks. >> thank you, general. excellent. now we're going to hear from director scott blackburn of my va task force and the u.s. department of veterans affairs. >> wow. thank you. thank you very much. thank you, carol. that was fantastic -- i think you inspired me to tell a little bit of my story to start up. i'm a veteran.

i was a young army officer when 9/11 hit. i was -- i'll never forget i was at ft. gordon, georgia that day in the single officer transition course. my unit didn't get called up but i raised my hand and i ended up getting -- was able to get a detail and headed over. and very soon afterwards in early 2002, i was in the middle east and was also one of the first troops on the ground. if anybody's familiar with operation anaconda from that time. and it was a big time for our history. and certainly for the army fighting force. very few people in the army had any combat experience at all, and matter of fact, i remember going back to alaska and i was the only guy in the entire post other than a few other gulf war veterans that had a combat patch so i was the cool kid at the

time. and i had dreams of doing kind of other stuff in the military but that was cut short by a nonback injury, a back injury. so i ended up getting medically discharged and the va was there for me. so i had -- i applied for the vocational rehab program, was able to go to harvard business school. after harvard business school -- i wouldn't have been able to afford harvard business school any other way. was able to go there and i went to mckinzie and became a partner there, turning around fortune 500 companies, working with a lot of industrial type of companies. then i kind of saw phoenix happening on the news and secretary shinseki who was a bit of a hero of mine, as originally as armor officer, he was the chief of staff at the time. he became the chief of staff the same week that i came -- got

commissioned and was the chief of staff throughout. somebody i always looked up to and admired. it was really unfortunate to see him have to resign. i remember talking outloud saying, wow, i'm working with all these companies and trying to turn around and transform the culture and the va needs that. the va needs that. then shortly thereafter, i'm sitting with my family and i see bob mcdonald was named the secretary. bob was on the board of one of the companies that i was working on and literally a few days later my phone rang and, how would you like to serve your country again? and that's something that, you know, really stuck with me. my service wasn't done yet. it was cut short by a back injury that -- and once you take the oath, the oath is for life and you mentioned so many folks like team rubicon and team red,

white and blue that are incredibly inspiring, the vfws of the world that are doing such great work. so i wanted to jump into it and continue to serve. so that's my story. that's how i ended up here and i've been with the va for about 15 months. i'm kind of the private sector guy in the va working with bob mcdonald and sloan gibson and a few other folks. but i'm just going to give you a very quick kind of overview. i have just a couple of slides to share, pictures to share here. the first one is bob likes to start every presentation that he gives just grounding yourselves in the va's mission, why we are here. we are here to care for those who have borne the battle. just as abraham lincoln said in the second inaugural address. we've modernized the language here. these are the values of the va. these were actually developed by secretary shinseki and his team. when bob came on board he did a

quick diagnostic and he found that there is no better mission in government. there is no better mission in the world than caring for our veterans and our values are fantastic. but they weren't being lived. not consistently. they were in pockets but not everywhere. they looked great, and he said my va is all about fulfilling that mission. my va is all about living our values and we're going to turn it around and fix it. and that's what we've been focused on doing. but we are also -- have heroes that are doing amazing things every single day. i'll just tell you one story. this was an e-mail that i got about two months ago. it was from somebody at our white river junction hospital up in vermont. it was a story about somebody going above and beyond.

and we have too temperature of a rules-based culture, too much much a fears-based culture, people worried about stepping out of line, people worried about i got to follow the rules or saying, no, i can't do this because of x, y and z. we want to flip that. we want to be a values and a principled-based culture and we are going to do the right thing no matter what and we are going to say the answer is yes and we're going to find a way how. this is an amazing example of three people who did that. susan was a nurse on duty that day. and a veteran didn't show up for an appointment. no big deal. in some places up to 20% of our scheduled appointments are no-shows. but this was a veteran that sharon knew and this veteran always showed up for appointments and if they didn't, they would call. or if they were running late, they'd call. and something didn't fit right. the rules told her don't worry about it, move on to your next appointment but she wasn't going to have that. she called john richardson, chief of police.

john said, person hasn't been missing this long. the rules kind of say, hey, we're not supposed to do this, that and whatever. but john said, you know what? let's look into it. he asked officer guy gardner to go and track this down and say could you investigate this a little bit. guy gardner drove by the veteran's house. there was snow on the ground. saw that there was no tracks. did everything he legally could do and said, you know what? i'm not comfortable with this. called local authorities. they did a health and welfare check. they found the veteran wedged between two pieces of furniture, had fallen, couldn't access a phone, couldn't access water, couldn't access food and was about an hour away from dying. and if they had just followed the rules and just simply done their job, that veteran wouldn't be here today. but instead, they lived our values, they lived our principles of integrity, of commitment, of advocacy, of

respect, of excellence. they went above and beyond and today that veteran is alive in the hospital and recovering. we are using this story telling because this happens every single day. but not as consistently as we want it to be. what my va is all about is getting back to the core of our values, being values based, being principles based. that's the cultural transformation that we have going on at the va. the one other thing i'll kind of talk about a little bit as well, this is a chart bob mcdonald likes to use. by the way, it is bob, not secretary mcdonald. he will correct you if you say that. he likes to say he is the lowest ranking member of the organization. they announced him when he first walked into the room, everybody's standing up, placards and all that stuff like that. he said you got to be kidding me? this is not about me. this is about veterans. we're flipping the pyramid, we're putting veterans and their families up front. those are the people that serve.

those are our customers. he came from procter & gamble. and the employees -- front line employees are the ones that serve them. our job as leadership is to make those people successful and to serve veterans. that is a major, major cultural shift going on at the va right now, it is not about the va, it is about the veterans. sounds simple, but if you think about it, your behaviors are very, very different if you're all about the va versus all about your organization versus all about the end person that you're trying to serve. the other thing i'll say -- so we launched a transformation initiative called my va. the origin of the term my va comes from we want veterans to be proud of the organization that fulfills that mission of caring for those who have borne the battle. unfortunately, that's not the case today. at least not everywhere.

there is somewhere, but not everywhere. we want them to say, hey, we've served our time, we're going to continue to serve our country. we might not be whole but we have absolutely no regrets and we're very proud of what we've done. and the va is the organization that is there that helps me out when i needed it just like when i went to graduate school after i got injured. we want the veterans to be proud of it and say it is my va. we want employees to show up to work and say i have the best mission in the world. i get to serve veterans every single day. there is no place else i would rather work. i don't mind that i'm not paid like the private sector. this is my va and this is my life's work and this is what i want to do. and, unfortunately, right now we don't create that environment for a lot of employees but we're going to change that. right? we want our employees to say this is my va as well. and we want the american public to take a look and say, wow, this is a model of efficiency, this is a great roi, any dollar that goes in is going to go

right to veterans and is going to be helpful. unfortunately, that's not how a lot of people view it these days. we're going to fix that as well. so we're going to get more efficient. real quick, five strategies that we're trying to work at the va right now. one, improving the veteran experience overall. number two, we cannot have a great veterans experience if we can't -- if our employees don't have a great experience. if you think of the great customer service organizations in the world, starbucks, us p u wegman's comcast. they are also the best places to work. if you went to starbucks this morning you wouldn't have had a great experience if that barista wasn't feeling empowered and didn't enjoy working there and wasn't taking the extra effort. we can't get that employee experience if we don't solve for

kind of our internal problems around hr and i.t. and acquisitions and all that stuff. we're trying to create the employee empowerment culture of performance improving where people stop is the line, identify problems and fixing them right on spot. last, but not least which is extremely relevant here is strategic partnerships. we can't do it all on our own. we don't want to do it on our own. the va is not best positioned to serve veterans in every single case. we have the states. i work very closely with all of your state directors and it has been an absolute joy. they were just down in alexandria a couple of months ago. i look forward to seeing them all again and in san antonio this summer. that's been fantastic. the private sector. comcast, organizations like that, starbucks, as i mentioned, usaa, fantastic partners.

the vsos. mentioned team rubicon, team red, white and blue. carol and i met at a foundation event, the vfw, american legion, tremendous organizations that go and serve veterans every single day. nonprofits. we're looking to partner with them. for the better veteran experience overall. the last thing that i will's touch on before sitting down is we also understand that we have a huge challenge and we have a multi-year transformation to go on. there is a lot of issues at the va and there is a lot of issues that we need to address with veterans and even much larger if we open the aperture out and very, very important things. but we want to -- we set our agenda for 2016 and we basically said we're not naive that there

is an election coming up. all bets are off as far as kind of who the next president will be and if secretary mcdonald, bob, will still be there. but you know what? it is absolute no regrets to buckle down and get stuff done and lay the foundation that needs to happen to transform the department, deliver the service that we need to deliver. on the left-hand side you'll see our priorities that are going to be veteran facing in green, on the right-hand side some of the critical enablers in blue. for each one of these bob mcdonald has taken six, sloan gibson has taken six. they said we're the executive sponsors, we're meeting every other week with each individual team on these for an hour, we're grilling them, we're figuring out where they need help, what are the bottlenecks, what do we need to do in the homelessness meeting we have which is an issue. bob said guess les beavers, get heather french from kentucky on the phone, because we need to

work with them and push the agenda there. who are the other partners that we should be partnering with. each one has kind of clear outcomes, clear metrics that we're really pushing, pushing hard on. it's quite a challenge. but you know what? we've got to do it and we're looking forward to continuing to partner with you to go and help serve those hidden heroes that are out there and kind of unleash that sense of service and that sense of pride and help people back on their feet after they've served. >> well, great job, both of you. now it is time for questions. or lunch.

>> listen, first of all, both of you, thank you for your service to the country. i wear my 9/11 pin every day. this changed my life, changed a lot of people's lives in this world. general, i understand where you're coming from. but i never want us to forget that even those -- i mean i never served. but i jump all over the place. i understand your feeling so it is not ptsd or anything else but i never want to forget that we still have to help a lot. and one of the things that i've done -- i've been working with our national guard for years -- welcoming them home. the truth is there is a

different -- we're in a different world now. many of these men and women have been sent out overseas three or four times, and they come home, haven't seen -- they've been away for a year each time, and i just really believe that we have to have more program for them and their families because the family is separated and it is hard for them to come back sometimes, to come back to the regular life in their household. same thing for the spouse that is home that has been for a year taking care of that home. and so i guess what i'm asking both of you is -- i know -- listen, the veterans need the help as much as we possibly can. the fact that you talked about them getting back involved, tomorrow -- no, saturday i'm supposed to be going to a

campaign meeting for veterans to teach them how to get involved in politics, to get involved in the local communities, state wide, stuff like that. my question to everybody is, you see it from different levels. the base level. i know -- i thank you for finding out. in our state community colleges have resource areas that those veterans want to sit down and talk to each other at times, because as you sat, we're patting each other on the back, sometimes you need to be patted on the back and from people who understand more. so i guess that the homeless issue for our state. we have now cured the homeless ness and we're very proud of that. but i guess my question is to both of you.

as lieutenant governor, and we are second in command, what would be the best thing for us to do in touching our veterans? is there a way that you've seen in other states that leadership gets in there and really has an ability to thank them for service, talk about what they're doing, but at the same time helping them -- it's not a handout, it's a hand up. >> well, first, i'd like to reiterate that i am in mo way suggesting that we don't serve these veterans. we have veterans who need, as you said -- that's a great way to put it -- a hand up. i like to say this is not a needy population. it is not an entitled population. it is a population that is deserving, deserving of exactly that, that hand up. so when you ask what's the best thing, those kind of -- best

always scares me because there's never just one best. there are just so many solutions. and i would just suggest that we all widen the aperture and look at the whole veteran population and how they can help one another and we can help all of them by focusing on one sector, we can omit other sectors that don't meet their needs. but that doesn't mean you ever exclude the most -- those in very drastic need. i would never suggest that. but i would ask that we look at that wider population that might need just a small handout. what you're doing obviously -- i read about all the states that have announced their success with veteran homelessness and that's just wonderful. that's just wonderful. so that's what i would suggest. i guessfy want to call it one best thing, widen the aperture. >> couple of things. what you said with the multiple deployments really resonated with me. my older brother, jim, is

already had seven deployments overseas, three to afghanistan, three to iraq, then one to cuba. and the strains that that puts on your family is undeniable. and there is a lot i think that we can do to help them. i agree, i think broaden the aperture is a great piece of advice. i think showing appreciation is a tremendous piece. a couple of i think just tactical things as well. two kind of quick ideas. one is there's a big push right now with the va on care in the community and partnering with the community. there was a choice act and everything. i know that it's kind of stumbled out of the gate and a lot of cases, as you probably heard. i think kind of working with the private health care companies in

your states and kind of preaching a little bit of patience and collaboration and things so that veterans can get the care that they need, whether it is at the va or it is in the private sector. we have a lot of different cases where some hospitals don't want to deal with waiting to get paid by the government and things like that. and actually the feedback that we've gotten from veterans is they don't want choice because the wait times are longer and the care is not as good because in a lot of cases they're not getting the support that they need. there's a lot of different problems and a lot of people -- i wouldn't say at fault but working together to do that. i think if you could help foster that over the next year or two as we fix that system, getting it in place so the veterans get the health care that they need. another kind of tactical thing that i think, ma'am, from connecticut, right? connecticut was actually the first state in which we stood up

a my va community and we launched it in hartford. we worked with sean connelly on that. and linda schwartz. you probably know linda as well. what we're doing is what we found is that in a lot of cases, issues weren't getting resolved at local levels and they would end up going up through representatives, through states, through the governor's office, through various different channels. and just never getting resolved. we saw a couple of models that worked really, really well. san diego was a model that worked fantastic where they actually had local community members convening veterans service organizations, state, politicians, nonprofits, private sector and the va all together go diagram and saying how do we actually solve these problems. there they were able to resolve issues much closer to the front

line versus kind of these alternative going to mom or dad type of channels which took a lot longer. we now have 46 of those in place today after connecticut being our first one. these are mostly kind of cities. connecticut, alabama, some other ones have done it state wide but these are mostly cities in place. i think if we could work together on some of those tngs that mick them successful, help link, strengthen the communities. we found in about half of the cases like connecticut they actually created a new entity. about half of the cases there was an existing entity and the va wasn't at the table. so we are trying to fix that in a lot of different cases as well and get to the table where we should get the a the table, too, to help solve some of these issues at a more local level. >> governor matt michael? >> thank you. general and director, i'm from

the south. south dakota. one of the questions i want to hear from you, general, which would be just outstanding, is what is the most impactful with being exciting, cool thing you're working on with comcast right now? secondly, director, i think your anecdote is interesting from a procter & gamble perspective though i think that it would be good to have secret shoppers because veterans choice is a national managed care program. it is unmitigated disaster in some of our areas and you know that. and i appreciate your candor. and a lot of it is the handoffs. a lot of it is the lack of communication and the inability even on the other side for people to understand what's going on and to get the referrals. so i think a lot of falloff is still occurring in our experiences, i'm responsible for veterans affairs, and the experience really is that it is just too frustrating so i won't get the medication or i won't get the referral. just recently had an example

with a higher level veteran that they lost all of the records and it was just prostate cancer. it wasn't really anything urgent that needed to be taken care of. and so i think that secret shoppers as a procter & gamble exec that bob should do that in regions and get different experiences and shot through it and see exactly whether it is working or whether it is really a charlie foxtrot. by the way, go navy. >> so, dave, could you get that man a coin for asking that question about comcast giving me the opportunity? i'm so excited. i'm retired. i was not looking for a job. comcast came to me, so i wasn't looking for a position but i found a purpose with comcast and an opportunity to continue to serve. i truly do believe in serving the military community. not because it's like, as i said, a really nice thing to do. i report to the chief operating officer and i ask him, why are

you doing this? if it had been the wrong answer i wouldn't have been there. but he said to me -- we need the military talent. we are growing. we have placed the customer experience at the top of all of our efforts and we know that military talent can help us meet our customer needs. so that's pretty darn exciting. i'm the first one in this position. they've given me an entire department. they funded me. those were the telling -- when i went in with my staffing plan and my budget, i said this will be a deciding factor. does my resignation go with it? i have been so supported. so that's very exciting that we have a private sector that's placed an emphasis on not only hiring our military talent, retaining, developing, promoting, and then meeting the needs of our military customers. a simple thing like when you now call in to your customer care agent, we have a code -- or if you go online, we have a code that says i'd like to suspend my

service due to military reassignment. that was never there. so you could, if you weren't careful, call up and say, i'm being reassigned, and then the agent might say to you, well, that will be a disconnect fee. which we all know is against the law. and so to ensure that we're meeting the needs of our military customers, we've been real careful to ensure that our front line agents understand the needs of the military community and that why provide them the products and services that they need because they are a unique group and they do bring in this amazing talent. you asked what's -- in addition to at least having an apartment which is very exciting, we are looking at transition programs well beyond hiring affairs. so we have a partnership with scte which is society for cable and telecommunication engineers. they do certification programs for those moving in to the cable, tech, media industry.

so we have a partnership with georgia tech, well respected education institute. scte. and ft. gordon which is the signal installation. individuals who are facing transition -- so they're within -- you know about this -- within their three to six months of transitioning out they can participate in private sector transition programs. so these individuals while they're still getting paid from the government, they're not out on the street trying to find a job, they are preparing for their next step while they're still in. so they are taking these certification programs with scte, and then they're coming to us at comcast across the central division to -- to -- think of it as job shadow or internship. they have no requirement to join us. we have no requirement to hire them. but you can bet we want to. and then they know that industry, we know what veterans bring to the table. we're doing something very similar with ft. carson with

higher level veterans. bringing them in for 13-week fellowships while they are still in, putting them in high-level positions so that they can see what happens at those levels within the industry. and i think that's the future of transition. very exciting. we're looking to do it across all the states, so i'll be calling you. >> yes. quickly, thank you, general. i'm dan mckey from rhode island. thank you for calling out the national guard and giving them a shout out. we're very proud of our rhode island national guard. >> you got your pilot back there. >> yes. we -- every opportunity we can to bring him to the state house and highlight the work that's being done and recognize the veterans, we do that. as a mayor, we did an operation standdown in my town to -- for the last 20 years. with a full weekend and 400 or 500 veterans would be showing up. so i appreciate the comments that were made. but i have one kind of practical

question. so when i visit our va hospital, it is more for scott, i guess. and visit with the veterans, tremendous stories and they want to share their story which was kind of interesting because i think i had seen that people don't share their stories enough. but in that setting, they do. but one of the questions was actually facilities. i notice facilities on your list. they want to expand. the only way they can expand is up. and yet -- in that hospital. and i understand there are some federal regulations against going up on facilities. i'm not sure you're aware of that. but if you're not aware of that, we'd like to hear about it because that's what's been pointed out by the management team and medical staff that they need to expand and it is quite a facility that i know our veterans in the area, rhode island and beyond, take

advantage of and it seems as though they've got the right motives and they got the right experience there to do a job great for the veterans but they need more space and the only way they can go is up. maybe make a comment on that or get back to me. that would be great. >> i don't know that specific so i'll have to get back to you on the specific situation. but that highlights the point of let's first ask what is the right thing, and then let's find a way to yes. that's a perfect example. if the right thing is to expand up, let's figure out what it holding us back and on that one specifically, we actually -- we're working with both sides of the aisle, congress and the house, white house as well, on legislation package -- we have nine legislative priorities, one of which is around construction and leasing. and so i'd love to get more information to make sure that we can get the specifics of that rolled in to that agreement. and be able to fix it because if it is the right thing to do,

that's what we want to do. by the way, i'm from situet, massachusetts. on the secret shopper question you asked, i love the idea. i actually go to the washington va here and i send all my notes to my experiences to brian hawkins who is the leader there and i think there is tremendous value in that. one of the things that we're doing that they've never done before is we are putting together a veterans experience team and deploying them to the field. we're going to have 182 folks out into the field actually doing that type of work. as a matter of fact, at 8:00 this morning i met the 12 folks that are joining our southeast team. so people from tampa and orlando and alabama and folks like that. so we're actually getting those guys on board and i would love for them to be plugged in.

i have told them that one of their mandatory things, the first week i want them to go introduce themselves to the state director of veterans affairs. if you could have that on your radar and help us help you guys and help integrate in to the local communities, be greatly appreciated. >> thank you, governor, and thank you both for your past service and current service. just wanted to quick comment just to underscore the synergy that comes from the local and state and federal collaboration and partnership. i had the real pleasure of joining the secretary about a week ago actually. he came back home to indiana, to gary, indiana. and it is unusual probably for someone at that level to show up early, but probably typical for him after spending a few hours with him and also good to see him give a self-guided tour of gary, indiana, where michael jackson grew up, where he grew up playing basketball. so his security detail could

know from where he came from. but we opened up a veterans village for homeless vets to get them off the street and it's really changed lives. so just want to underscore that kind of local/state/federal collaboration and what it really does because i am seeing it on the ground. then specifically what you alluded to, scott, in my hometown ship in indianapolis, indiana, we are working with the va with the ymca. brilliant. it is going to work. and it is -- i just want to commend you for that effort and reaching out to all of those local entities where folks are bumping into anyway in their ordinary walk of life. it is making a difference so thank you. >> allrightee. with that, it was a great discussion. thank you very much. appreciate it. as i escort our speakers of o the panel, we want to ask one of our newest colleagues,

lieutenant governor billy n nungasser to come up and the folks from general electric. thank you so much. a signature feature of book tv on c-span2 is taking you to book fairs and festivals across the country. this weekend we traveled to the university of southern california for the 21st annual "los angeles times" festival of books. one of the most celebrated book festivals in the u.s. our live coverage starts saturday at 1:30 p.m. eastern featuring national security with author sarah chayes and cheethi of state. nancy cohen. then coming up on sunday, at

1:30 p.m. eastern, more from the "l.a. times" festival books featuring discussions with author and political commentator arianna huffington. also nationally syndicated talk show host dennis prager. and a discussion about religion and politics. reza aslan talks about his book. go to booktv.org for the complete weekend schedule. white house cabinet secretary broderick johnson went back to his alma mater, the university of michigan law school, to explain to students what it is like working at the white house for president obama. he also discussed the white house my brother's keeper task force which he chairs and his observations about president obama's priorities in his last year in office.

he spoke for about an hour. >> good afternoon, everybody. welcome. i'm susan collins, from the gerald r. ford school of public policy. it's wonderful to have all of you join us this afternoon. today it is really an honor to be introducing broderick johnson who joins us as part of the university's month-long martin luther king jr. symposium. in that context as well, it's really a special pleasure to have all of you here with us for today's policy talks. broderick is assistant to president obama, white house cabinet secretary and chair of the president's my brother's keeper task force. i suspect that some of you are a little curious to know about just what a cabinet secretary does. well, just briefly, thurgood marshall jr. was the first person to hold this important position under president clinton and as you will hear more about a little bit later today,

broderick johnson in that role is the primary liaison between president obama and the many cabinet departments and agencies. so during his lecture i'm sure he will share quite a bit more about that with us and also about the interagency federal policy process. so much to look forward to. many in the audience may be quite familiar with my brother's keeper which is president obama's challenge to cities across the country to address the disparity in opportunities for men of color. detroit took that challenge head-on. in fact, one of the ford school's alumni, ebony wells, was a huge part of setting up detroit's response and i have heard from our guest that detroit is really developing a particularly strong program in that context and so ebony, i wanted to invite you to stand so we could recognize you. thank you. [ applause ] well, before chairing the my brother's keeper task force,

broderick was an assistant in the clinton administration and he previously served as chief democratic counsel in congress. he's also been very successful in the private sector. he was a vice president of at & t and bell south corporations, a partner with a large international law firm, and in addition, he co-founded a strategic consulting business. so those who know broderick may know only parts of his very distinguished and varied career but i suspect that all of them know where he studied law and his great pride in being a university of michigan alum. go, blue. so before i turn the floor over to him, i just want to say a word about our format. our special guest will speak for about 20 minutes, then we will open things up to the audience for questions. about ten minutes from now, our staff will be circulating to collect your question cards. you should have received them as you came into the auditorium today. if you are watching online, please tweet your questions using #policytalks.

then professor ann lynch, ford school professor with four -- students will facilitate our question and answer session. so time to get started. please join me in welcoming broderick johnson to the podium. >> thank you. good afternoon. i'm going to try to set my book here without hitting a delete button on these screens here. if i do, i'm sorry. well, it's great to be here in ann arbor. it's great to be back on this beautiful campus. you know, when you're in washington all the time, and you get a chance to go out to a campus like this one, you feel a sense of energy, the excitement, the youthfulness. it warms the heart and back in d.c., by the way, you all should know my west wing office is

filled with michigan paraphernalia to remind me of this place, but also so that i can strike up conversations with people who come and visit and they're like oh, you went to michigan and then about a half hour later, we finally have stopped talking about the university of michigan. so it's all over the place and i'm quite proud to have it there. i have really appreciated not only having gone to this school and graduated from this school from the great law school, but many, many important moments of my own life which i will get to in a few minutes, but suffice it to say this place has had an enormous impact on my life and my career. i have got maize and blue running in my veins. when i hear the fight song i get teary-eyed depending on what the score is when the fight song comes on. when i think of michigan, i think about many, many things. i think about president ford and stories of how he stood up against segregation when he was on the football team here in the 1930s.

i think about fellow alums and dear friends from the law school like former senator and former interior secretary ken salizar who was my first year mentor at the law school. he was a third year student who kept encouraging me and telling me that if i studied just a little bit harder i would make law review and that whatever happened, life was going to be good. i think about my dear friend, valerie jarrett, who is also a graduate of the law school. senior advisor and long-time friend of the president and first lady. i think of great games in the big house over many seasons with law school friends of more than 30 decades. i also think about lee bollinger, my first professor -- amendment professor back in 1982. he became dean of the law school and president of the university. and as you all know, he stood relentlessly in defense of affirmative action and i think of my friend and president of the alumni association, steve grafton, a white dude from mississippi who navigated a

largely white alumni association board to take an overwhelming position supporting affirmative action and opposing prop 2. then there are a lot of very personal moments for me, very poignant family moments which i'm going to share a bit with you all, because michigan has become a true legacy for my family. i think of my late mom, who became a huge wolverine fan. had not attended college but she adopted the university of michigan really as her alma mater. we would spend many afternoons, phone calls back and forth about the michigan game. she would call me and say did you see that? did you see that mistake? did you see this great play? i would say mom, the game's still on, why don't you call me in a few minutes. and one afternoon in 2011, i was able to bring her here the big house for the first time in her life with my youngest son at the time. and it was cold and thank you very much.

it was cold, but it was really warm for us to be there and share that moment. my mother was decked out in maize and blue literally from head to toe. i also think about my late father, who set foot on a law school campus for the first time in his life in 1983 for my graduation. and i proudly put that moment in the context of fulfillment of many of the dreams my dad had about what would happen for his sons, his daughters, his grandchildren and i became really the epitome of the bridge for that for a generation. you see, when my youngest son came to visit the law school in 2011, he was only 10 years old. his father first set foot on a law school campus when he was 50. so the idea that his grandson at 10 could go to a law school campus was really quite the fulfillment of his dreams. i remember really really vividly my son asking me after i had brought him through a tour of

the law school at 10 years old, the idea of like visiting a law school late at night on a saturday night wasn't the coolest thing, but he was intrigued by all of it and i remember he asked me, he said dad, if i decide to come to school at michigan, if i decide to come to school at michigan. not do you think i could maybe qualify. it was clear in his mind, maybe it's because of all the investment in his education so far, that he could come to school here if he decided to and that would be a choice that we have and not some far-off dream that it would take many, many civil rights movements to change. and then when i think of michigan, i think about my wife michelle norse, formerly with national public radio who gave the commencement speech at this university in the winter of 2014. she received an honorary doctorate that day and closed her inspiring remarks with a bit of maize and blue poetry. she said it's great to be a michigan wolverine and the crowd

broke out in great applause and i'm glad i told her she should do that, because it was the icing on the cake to what was really otherwise quite a memorable day. thank you very much, dean collins, for your most kind introduction and for having me back here. you know how much i love this place. so michael barr is here as well. michael and i go back to the clinton administration and we have a secret between us about a job he took that i didn't take that he did a great job at and i'm glad he did, because it helped to save washington, d.c. but i'm really surprised that my friend sally gindy is here. so little bit of history. i was between undergrad and grad school, i didn't know what i wanted to do except continue to study philosophy. there was a program in bowling green, ohio, a master's program in something called applied philosophy. have any of you applied for that program? okay. so the best thing about it is that it let people like sally and i decide applied philosophy would best be applied if we went

to law school and became lawyers. so i can't remember the last time i have seen you but it is so great to see you. we decided on ann arbor because we came up here one weekend and the football team was playing and it was like i got to go to school there. sally, it's great to see you. love you. it's really wonderful to see you. it's an incredible honor and privilege to be here to bring greetings on behalf of the 44th president of the united states, president barack obama. the president has visited the university of michigan more than any other sitting president. sometimes he pokes fun at me about my wolverine passion. i don't know why. but he gets it. i remember back in the spring of 2014, the president visited this campus long after the basketball team had gone as far as making the elite eight. the president had not picked the university of michigan basketball team to go that far in his bracket. there was a big deal made about the plezresident's bracket ever

year. but he hadn't picked the wolverines. so then he had to come here. and as he stood before our pretty raucous crowd that included several of that year's overachievers like jordan morgan and glenn robinson the president manned up and admitted his misjudgment about the team. he also admitted that his bracket, quote, was a mess. those are his words. we're talking about a man who makes very few mistakes in sports, politics or government. but he said he learned his lesson, he would never choose against the university of michigan again. one of my job as cabinet secretary is to make sure as long as i'm there he does not make that mistake again. working in the white house is really the hardest job, particularly this time, that i've ever had. the cabinet secretary job, some people would describe it as herding cats. michael, you know better than that. i would never describe it as herding cats. i say this with all sincerity. there are great members of the president's cabinet throughout.

it's great to work with them, but we do have often surreal challenges, unexpected crises that come, trying to get things done with a congress that often times has a lot of challenges working within itself. but i get to work with some of the hardest working people and smartest people on the face of the planet. that being said, there are many improbable and remarkable moments for me. for example, being able to travel with the president and first lady whether they went to selma last march and to cross the edmund pettis bridge with them. being in the east room of the white house a few weeks ago when the president announced executive actions on guns. and watching him get as emotional as i've ever seen the president that day. briefing the president in the oval office along with other advisers. and you look around and you say i'm in the oval office and i'm briefing the president, and i have to say something very intelligent. and then about, i don't know,

maybe two or three months ago, i ushered coach harbaugh into the oval office. this was a monday after the michigan state game. and coach harbaugh had already agreed to come to d.c. to do something with the first lady but the president wanted to actually meet with coach harbaugh that day. so watching the rapport between them was really quite something. they even talked a bit about harbaugh's khakis. i have to admit the president did not ask coach harbaugh, hey, where can i get some of those slacks? but it was really quite a conversation. there were some similarities between the two of them that are quite positive. now, you all didn't invite me to share a host of personal anecdotes and stories about my life here. i've got a lot more. in the q&a if you want to ask for some more, i'll give you some more. but let's talk about what i do for the president and why it's so rewarding and so incredibly consequential. as was mentioned, i have two

primary roles at the white house. i serve as the president's cabinet secretary, and i serve as the chair of his my brother's keeper task force. i'll talk about both of those a little bit and how they indeed intersect actually. then i look forward to having a conversation with all of you and your questions and suggestions i look forward to. i was asked to join the senior team at the white house in february of 2014. this white house. but it's been my privilege to have known barack obama since 2003 when he was a u.s. senate candidate, to have helped advise him in that race, in his presidential race the first time, in his re-election campaign. during his two successful terms as president. i should also add that it's been my distinct honor to get to know the president as a friend. he's quite a human being. when i got the call in late 2013, it would have been the professional mistake of my life, bar none, if i had said no thank you, mr. president.

i can't even imagine saying that, but some people do. but i didn't. and it's a good thing that i didn't. because again, it's hard, but it's incredibly rewarding. the institution of the cabinet is as old as our democracy. article 2, section 2 of the constitution states that the president, quote, may require the opinion of the principal officer in each of the executive departments upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, closed quote. today's cabinet includes includes as the heads of 15 departments everyone from the secretary of state, to attorney general, to secretaries of relatively recently established departments such as department of homeland security. the cabinet also includes the heads of agencies that have been extnd extnded cabinet rank like the epa and small business administration. the cabinet secretary wear with as many hats.

serving as senior advisor to the president. ez or she serves as liaison to cabinet members and visa versa to the cabinet. he or she coordinates among various departments and agency efforts around the many, many policy programs of the 2k5r789s and he or she works with cabinet members on implementation and communication with respect to the president's agenda. the president regularly engages with his cabinet. the team i have in the white house coordinates much of that with me. we have formal cabinet sessions that are held nearly every quarter. you all have seen some of the press around those. you see the president is in the cabinet room and what we call a pool spray will come in. either video of a still press. the president will have some remarks at the top, maybe about the subject of the day that he wants to get out and have the press carry. and then, of course, members of the press try to ask the president questions. they yell questions at him and they're ushered out of the room pretty quickly at that point.

i recall my first cabinet meeting. it was in may of 2014. i asked people who had been there throughout the administration whether i should be prepared to answer any questions or address any issues. the cabinet meeting they all said no, it never happened in the history of the republic. you all know what happened. the president turned to me at one point and said, broderick, would you present this subject to the cabinet? i was like, what happened here? this is not supposed to happen. i said it to myself. i was like, yes, mr. president, of course. then i have no idea what i said at that point. in addition to formal cabinet meetings, during my time as cabinet secretary we've actually adopted various new approaches to engaging the cabinet with the president. for example, there are department-specific briefings that focus on updates, challenges and related actions. these are specific sort of one-on-one engagements between the president and the relevant

cabinet secretaries. we also have smaller group meetings that will be based on issue areas. for example, we have a trade cabinet, we have a climate cabinet. these are informal cabinet designations of groups, but they get together but they get together and have done that throughout the time i've been in this white house. president obama has always been clear in his guidance to all of us, including his cabinet that we have to anticipate challenges, proactively address them and be candid in observing how departments will stay on track to meet the priorities and objectives. this president is a leader who digs deep into substance. like he has a highlighter in his head. you can give him a 30 page memo and you would think he'd get lost somewhere in all of it because there's so much information. he has so little time because he has so much stuff to read. it's like he goes to the subject or right to the question at the moment when it needs to be asked. you sit there and say this man is unbelievably smart. i've seen it time and time

again. he hates small talk. and happy talk. don't be the cabinet secretary who comes in and says mr. president everything is great and we're doing fine if it's not. if it is, that's fine but it better be. he don't believe people should air brush over the challenges they face. the president's cabinet is focused on implementation of his priorities in the time we have remaining in the next 11 months. policy priorities but also management priorities and rule makings, we don't expect to get a whole lot done with the congress. that's not the top of our list of expectations. an exception for that will be around criminal justice reform. we're optimistic about being able to get a reform bill to the president so he can sign before he leaves office. today's challenges require solutions by the cabinet branch. let me share a couple of cross

agency collaboration examplesism two weeks ago the president visited detroit to talk about the resurgence of that great american city. and in case anyone has forgotten, when we inherited the white house, when the president took office in 2009, a crisis on wall street had plunged the nation into a great recession and the effects were being felt in detroit and throughout communities deeply connected to the auto industry. so in addition to actions the president took to support the american car manufacturers to indeed to bet on their resurgence, he directed the cabinet to support the recovery of detroit. the question would be whether or not detroit would survive. in a comprehensive fashion this is what happened. thal department of treasury reachred out to the city of detroit. the department of transportation awarded grants to support new

bus buses. the department of energy helped install or finance new l.e.d. lights that bring security to a community where there were many people who were worried about their safety while saving money and reducing carbon footprint. as i said, i was with the president on his trip to detroit. and, look, not to sugar coat things we know there's challenges that remain in detroit, especially around education. detroit is on its way back and the president has directed the cabinet to remain present in detroit and continue to invest in detroit and look for ways to continue to make challenge happen in the city of detroit. climate change. the end of 2015 saw one of the most conquenchal moments of this president's moment. the notions in paris. there were many people who said that was not going to happen.

we were not going to be able to achieve much in paris. the president directed that his whole staff get involved in a tightly coordinated, his whole cabinet get involved in a approach. for the epa. promulgating rules of clean power and water. for the department of interior, conservation of american lands and endangered species. department of energy, standards and renewable energy stands. for the department of transportation and agriculture, incorporating policies into grant making. for hud which announced billion dollars in grants to cities and states to support planning so we can mitigate the effects of climate change. at the state department, secretary kerry has made climate a top priority. virtually all of his engagements with other nations, for example china and india. then, again, with regard to criminal justice reform, the attorney -- current attorney general and her team have continued the work that was done

by the previous attorney general, eric holder. to provide reentry opportunities for many in our society who are looking for a second chance. so there is this comprehensive approach. it is really one of the haul marks of this presidency and administration. and then it's what leads me to talk for a few minutes about my brother's keeper. which we also refer to affectionally as mbk. two and a half years ago the president spoke from the white house to the nation in response to the verdict in the trayvon martin case. he spoke about the angst and anger that parents and families were feeling and about the challenges facing too many of this nation's young people. especially boys and young men of color. and those remarks the president observed that trayvon martin could have been his own son or 35 years ago he could have been trayvon martin. the president said, quote, a lot

of kids out there who need help who are getting a lot of negative reinforcement. there has to be more we can give them in this country, a sense that their country cares about them and values them and is willing to invest in them. not long after the president gave those remarks he and i talked about what he could do to really lift up the importance of this work and to use the power of the presidency and the president was very clear that he wanted to go big on this. he wanted to do something significant. he wanted to use his power over the federal government, also his power to convene people from the private sector to get engaged in this work. so he launched my brother's keeper six months after he had made the remarks about trayvon martin. from a ceremony in the east room of the white house, that in and of itself is quite significant. because it demonstrated how this was a priority of this president. just by where he held the ceremony to launch this great effort to address persistent

opportunity gaps that boys and young men of color are especially confronted with. that was my ninth day working in the white house. quite a way to start the work there. during a speech that day the president reflected on how personal the work is to him. he said quote, i could see myself in a lot of these young men. there were young mean behind the president that day on the stage. he went on to say the only difference is i grew up in an environment that was a little more forgiving. so that when i made a mistake the consequences were not as severe. he continued, the plain fact is there are some americans who are consistently doing worse in our society. group whose have had the odds stacked against him in unique ways that require solutions. groups who have seen fewer opportunities that have spanned generations. by almost every measure the group that is facing some of the most severe challenges in the 21st century in this country are

boys and young men of color. here are just a few of those measures that the president was alluding to. i could go on and on with many, many negative statistics. i want to cite a few. boys and young men of color are more likely to be born into low income families and live in concentrated poverty. to live one or no parent or to attend high poverty poor performing schools. moreover boys and young men of color too often receive harsher penalties for the same refractions as similarly charged white males and are least likely to be given a second chance. and finally, boys and young men of color are more likely to live in communities with higher rates of crime. increasing the likelihood of negative encounters with police and victimization by violent crime. black boys are 6% of the nation's population but more than half of the nation's homicide victims.

the president thinks about these issues in a very personal way as i mentioned. he talks about it as often as he possibly can. for example, just a few months ago, when he visited the federal prison in oklahoma. he said he met young people there who had make mistakes anderant that different than the mistakes he made and a lot of us make. the difference is, the guys he met at that prison did not have the kinds of support structures, second chances, the resources that would allow them to survive or get beyond those mistakes. so to president was very clear about this. the challenges our youth face demand we act with urgency and also with a sense of the long hall. because not only because the challenges are jaw dropping, the disparities mind dumbing. we're compelled to act because there is an economic imperative if our country is to remain globally competitive, we cannot continue to have so many

millions of young people missing from this society. a recent report from the president's own council of economic advisors, show that if we close the gap that exists in labor force participation between 16 to 54-year-old men of color and non-hispanic white men of the same age total u.s. gdp would increase by 2%. so mbk is about obliberating the barriers our kids face in building stronger communities and stronger opportunity streams. in less than two years we could not be more excited about momentum around mbk. the energy and enthusiasm we've seen across the country. out of the white house we've adopted a three pronged approach to the mbk work. review and reform a federal policy. second, in state and local engagement. and third, super charged private sector investment and

collaboration. let me briefly talk about those three work streams. first, federal policy. over the course of the past two years, the mbk task force which is a group of a dozen federal agencies has led to new and expanded grant opportunities out of the department labor, education, energy, and so on. for example, in july of last year, i joined then secretary of education arne duncan and attorney general loretta lynch at a correctional facility in maryland where they were to announce a program called second chance pell. we have already received hundreds of applications nationwide. the road to prison is paved in many many instances by poor education. so the way out of prison, for

many people has to be a good education and good job when they get out. second, in november the president visited newark, new jersey which is one of the stronger mbk communities to highlight the reentry process of formerly incarcerated individuals and announcing that americans who have paid their debt to society reintegrate. it was during that visit the president announced a round of what we call mbk federal policy deliverables. responding to recommendations that were also part of the president's task force on criminal justice. first, banning the box. for almost all federal jobs to delay inquiries into criminal history into later of the interview process. so they get a fair shot at a federal job. another was the department of housing and urban development and department of justice are working together now with the

national bar association to seal and exsponge records. the department of education has awarded millions in grants to help formerly incarcerated youth reenter school and other educational prarooms. there are dozens of new programs that have been launched as a result of mbk across federal agencies. let me talk about place based which is really comprehensive community engagement. because that's what will sustain this work past the presidency without question. there are now more than 200 communities that have accepted the my brother's keeper community challenge. representing 49 states, the district of columbia, 19 tribal nations. 49 states. so the 50th state, is going to have a primary next week. so anyway. that's the hint.

it's been remarkable. there are some states in this country that have as many as six to eight to 12 mbk communities. and what is doneson brought together the public sector and the private sector, local government, with the help of foundations and others who have been doing this work for a long time to get together and design cradle to college and career action plans to address what we call six mile stones in the lives of all young people. where we can have the greatest impact on their lives. we know this based on evidence and data. it's not stuff we imagined. it's based on hard data. that's the work that's being done in communities all across the country. and it's evidence based. it's goal oriented and urgent and long term. in detroit, the mayor announced their mbk plan which was developed by more than 100 local leaders and youth from the detroit area. the next five years, detroit

plans to recruit and match 5,000 new mentors to employ 5,000 additional men of color in high growth industries to reduce suspensions by 50%. and to enroll 90% of its 4-year-olds in preschool. they have matched the resources and strategies to get the work done. in boston the boston foundation has invested millions to expand street safe out reach programs to youth at risk of violent crime. they're doing this in coordination with the boston police department and the mayor's public safety initiative. in philadelphia, they have reduced school based arrests by 50% using a new school diversion program. and two weeks ago philadelphia announced it has -- in the

district of columbia they have increased the percentage of students reading at grade level by fourth grade. that's the second part. it's the community based part. the third work stream is private sector action. so, again, in response to the president's call to action, foundations and businesses and social enterprises have responded to his call to action by taking a series of steps to provide additional funding aligned with the national initiatives under mbk. thus far, more than a half a billion dollars in grants and a billion dollars in financing have been independently committed to advance the mission of mbk. including investments in safe and effective schools mentoring programs. juvenile justice reforms and school design. in may of 2015, a group of private sector leaders launched a new start up, my brother's

keeper alliance which is working to advance the goals of the president's efforts out of the white house. and to make sure that the work around this nation is sustained and lasting far beyond january 2017. this new mbk alliance start up was initiated with an impressive board of directors including the leaders of fortune 100 companies and community minded celebrities. earlier this month the non-profit organization mentor and the national basketball association launched the in real life campaign as part of the nba's commitment to my brother's keeper. this campaign challenges americans across the franchises t the nba so that every child that wants to be mentored has the

opportunity. updates from grass root activities shared across the country. you will see throughout the rest of this month, this is nba's all-star month. you'll see a lot of attention around my brother's keeper and the nba throughout the course of this month. just recently in usa today, bill russell, one of the greatest players in nba history released an op-ed that was published in usa today by mentoring and my brother's keeper. last week kendrick lamar released a story about the importance of mentoring and how it relates to the president's initiative. so there's a lot of effort and attention that's being brought to this from the private sector. to sum all this mbk stuff up, let me just say the following. last may when we were with president obama in the broadcast and he was there for the creation of the mbk alliance, he took a moment during his remarks to speak directly to the youth

who were gathered there. i say these things in the president's owns words because these are personal to him. he said this to the young people, there is nothing, not a single thing that's more important to the future of america than whether or not you and young people all across the country can achieve your dreams. the president has been very clear that this will be important work for him after he leaves the white house. and his personal capacity will be among his priorities. whether it's my cabinet secretary hat on or to help lead mbk, everything i get to do is about disrupting the status quo. focusing on what works and realizing the president's vision for an equitable society. while admittedly social transformation is complex and measured over decades. i can personally see from the

trips i take across the country that we're getting closer and closer to that goal every day of a more fair and equitable society. we have a long way to go. but it is making a difference. and i couldn't be more excited about the future that we will be able to leave behind after we leave the white house and beyond. i want to close with an observation about where we are in the last parts of this presidency, the last 11 months. going back to the beginning of what we call the fourth quarter. i ask you not to ask me any questions about the iowa caucuses. i'm not going to talk about those. it makes me emotional. so i don't gloat. this isn't to gloat. so let's just stipulate that. after the 2014 midterm elections in which democrats suffered significant losses across the country, the political media in washington was quick to assign labels to the president, to his administration. pretty harshly minimizing the

remainder of his time in office in many cases. for example, there were some commentators who were referring to barack obama as the lamest lame duck in american history. that he was going to run the clock out. some even said the president was tired and looking defeated. and i listened to some of that stuff and thought they just don't know. so that has not been the case. instead the president said to all of us the day after the election he called all of his senior advisors into a meeting and talked about how we were entering the fourth quarter and a lot of interesting things happen in the fourth quarter. he's a big sports fan. in the first part of the fourth quarter which is 2015, under the president's leadership the following things happened. we had 12 more months of job growth adding to an unparalleled record. we reached a historic international agreement to combat climate change. we reached an agreement with

iran with other countries around the world that verifiably cuts off all of its paths to a nuclear weapon. we advance relations with cuba. we achieve conclusion of a historic 12 month trade agreement. we saw marriage equality upheld in 50 states. and we also saw a bipartisan agreement to further improve k-12 education. that was all in 2015. of course, the beginning of 2016, we saw the president's announcement of executive actions to better protect communities and children across the country from gun violence. all those achievements and all that we will continue to do is not the result of an accident. or lucky timing. it's a result of a president who has steely determination. he looks down field. his vision is focused on the future and makes sure all of us understand that and work with the same approach. so we're halfway through the fourth quarter. the president and all of us and

his cabinet will hustle on every play and every down. let me finish with some football analogies. there's a basketball one. there's no -- maybe it's a football one. there's no prevent defense happening. we're not just sort of there to say, please don't do this to us. we're looking for every opportunity to continue to execute until the very end. just like they do in the big house in better times. thank all of you for listening to me. i look forward to your questions, your observations, suggestions. as long as they're not about the iowa caucuses. thank you for listening and go blue. thank you all very much. [ applause ] >> good evening, everyone. i'm a student here at the school as well as a phd student in education. my research focuses on using

collective impact to have change in education. part of that work is working with the brother's keeper here in washington county e. it's great to see county leaders here this evening. as the dean mentioned this is our q&a session we encourage you to write your questions down and feed them to us. and our first question here is from mr. johnson. what do you think the single largest problem facing people of color? >> there is the material problems that relate to poor schools, living in impoverished neighborhoods. being surrounded by violence. there is also, though, what i could call the perception set of problems that have to do with

changing the narrative. the way they view themselves. the way they think people like us view them. the way we view them. right. because so much of what we do is based on the expectations that people have about us. so i think as much as anything else it's about changing the narrative and all those many ways. did you say there was some young people here from washington county you work with? or did i misunderstand? you want my mike? >> i think i'm okay. i was mentioning the brother's keeper and the community members that are here. >> would they raise their hands? great. thank you, thank you very much. [ applause ] >> my name is eric i'm a senior in the ba program and my focus is on urban inequality.

and the second question we have today is how do you expect things to change with the change of leadership? and what will be your next steps professionally with the conclusion of the obama administration? >> do i have to answer the second question? >> however you choose. >> no, i know. so i can actually -- your first question has to do how we will continue to work after the end of the obama administration? is that fair? i guess in several ways, one is as i mentioned. we have been working across the federal agencies whether it's the labor department, education department and energy department around national labs and stem education and opportunities. to try to make sure that we are able to make changes that people will be able to point to that have made a difference. you know, again, the next 11 months are critical to that, too. we would want whoever the next

president is to look at a lot of the programs in a way we have focused those programs on where the greater disparities are, greatest disparities are and maintain those approaches. so while i can't say that my brother's keeper will be an initiative of the next president, i know that we're going to try to make sure we institutionalize change that whateverist called brings about what we believe to be important terms of making changes. second, as i mentioned the president is committed to this work for the rest of his life. he said that. it's lifetime work for him. there's now this my brother's keeper alliance which i referred to. that's a start up. hopefully it will continue to progress rapidly and well. it may be through that and other efforts that the president will continue. personally i will stay engaged in this work for the rest of my life. it means that much to me as well. i'll find some other things to

do after i get some rest. >> this question comes to us from twitter. how does the president respond to criticism that mbk either does not do enough or is misguided in scope? >> is that a softball question? >> i think so. >> you know, look, i know what difference we are able to make in how the various heads of agencies view their role in addressing these issues. the facts it's a clarion call of the president means people pay a lot of attention to and a half accountable to making changes in policy. and we've gotten private sector partners involved to make a difference. the third thing i'd say, really, you know, i grew up in baltimore which is a pretty tough place. when i was growing up it was

tough and continues to be tough. it has seen its share of unrest over time. and you go to baltimore and talk to the young people who are being affected by my brother's keeper already. they are more hopeful than people would ever imagine they r. you see it over and over again in cities. to me, we have to be able to prove that it makes a difference. don't get me wrong. it won't be about happy stories of kids are saying they feel like the president and the country loves them. we want to make sure they know it's true but it's done in tangible ways. i'm confident it's making a big difference. we'll have statistics to show that. >> that leads into our next question. with mbk what has been the most significant indicator of measuring its success? >> i think the 200 plus communities that have agreed to do the work and are doing it under my brother's keeper and

doing it under the frame of my brother's keeper where they look at specific mile stones and determine that depending on the circumstances in their city, for example, in some cities youth unemployment summer jobs is a bigger challenge than in others. or suspension of three and four year-olds in communities. that's true, 4,000 three and four year-olds suspended from preschool. 90 pounders who, you know, just say, come on. but there are a lot of complicated issues about that. so you know, we're able to make sure that communities have the flexibility to do the work that's important to where they are. the fact that so many communities have agreed to do this work and are building sustaining work. it's not work that this will expire when january 20th, 2017, but have three and four year plans in place already to do the work going forward. >> this question is in regards

to your position as cabinet secretary. who are the most rewarding and difficult cabinet members to work with? >> michael, do you want to answer that question for me? they're all great. it's no more sophisticated than that. i love my job. >> okay. our next question asks, how can cities like frilint michigan improve conditions for its residents, environmental improvement, mbk, private sector economic development? >> well, flint i know has of course a real emergency challenges that has to attend to that have implications for the health of its children and the education of its children as

well. never the less, flint by no means can do by itself what it needs to do across the board in those areas you mentioned. i can tell you from the perspective of the federal government that as we've done in other cities -- i don't know if we will follow this model in flint. we'll see. we've been able with regards to detroit and it's been the case with baltimore. we have sent federal teams led by particular people in to provide as much federal assistance as possible. ion i don't know whether that will be the case with flint. it's a place based model of work that needs to be replicated. i think by the federal government whoever is in charge. in july of 2017. it has to be comprehensive and it has to be based on a broader view of the needs of flint as in any other city. >> all right. what have been some of the

funding mechanisms used to push local mbk initiatives forward? >> i mentioned that it's communities get together and develop action plans. those action plans include not just an approach they're going to take whether they're going to address one of the six milestones, whether it's from cradle or about reentry programs. also how they're going to go about getting the private sether to invest with the public sector in those communities. philadelphia being a great example of a city that got together with a lot of businesses and the city of philadelphia either based there or have strong operations there and came up with guaranteed investments. what they would put into the mbk related work. it's through those collaborat n collaborations. it's among people who maybe hadn't been talking to each other about getting involved in this work.

it's been about franchises and where they were going to put the next restaurant as opposed to jobs that would be available to jung people. >> our next question comes from twitter. was there any concern the potus waited too late to launch mbk? >> there's long history of the work we've been doing across many issues. whether having to do with the american economy and jobs. having to do with healthcare, having to do with education opportunities and reforms that would lead to what we've seen in terms of increased graduation rates in colleges. what i'd say, is the president was profoundly affected by what happened in the trayvon martin situation and just decided it was an important opportunity given where the country was and given the circumstances to pull us all together in one

particular initiative. that was not to say that we had been ignoring the issues before because we weren't. >> what is the likelihood of mbk remaining a key program, and are there better chances under a democratic president of the united states? >> so i'm not going to talk about partisan political stuff. except to say that we -- this isn't except to say. this is in fact, true. in that we have found a lot of support among republicans for my brother's keeper, particularly in the communities like indianapolis. for example, it had a republican mayor who was one of the early mayors to endorse mbk. we've seen that in fresno, california, for example where a republican mayor did it as well. and we've gotten a lot of expressions for support. not necessarily support for a new appropriation that would fund related programs. that funding can come through a

variety of other things around the department of education funding and the like. but we've seen tremendous amount of support from republicans for mbk and religious conservatives as well. it's one of the -- viewed as one of the least partisan things that we've developed. by those who want to view what we do as partisan. which is not the case. >> our next question asks, how is the tarvsk force encouraging cities who haven't joined, especially those who have high percentages of boy and young men of color to be a mbk city? >> there isn't any of those left. there aren't many. there are still some. and you know, it's honestly keeping up with the 200 or so that are already mbk communities and making sure that all those communities are doing work effectively is a challenging mission. we're focused on that.

communities that -- this is something that has to be driven by the local communities largely. in that community leaders and folks have to decide if they want to become an mbk community or what kind of mbk community they want to become. they need to make those determinations really at a local level. >> how does mbk talk with boys on the ground about the planning and implementation of mbk? are there leadership roles for black and brown youth? >> it is mandated that your action plan address how you make sure locally you have young people involved in the planning of the work. that's one thing that goes to the equality of the plan. that's based into what communities should do. second, though, i've gone to two dozen communities over the past year and always insist that the

listening session so to speak or summit they have include young people in the planning and also in terms of who i can speak to to solicit their ideas. i've gone back to the white house having had a young person tell president obama i said such and such. if i can figure out a way to tell him what they said, sometimes the opportunity presents itself. i remember once probably about a year after we had started mbk and the wall street journal had written something positive and "the washington post" had as well. i was feeling happy about that. going to having republican support particularly in the case of wall street journal. the president asks me how we were doing with mbk. we got a great editorial from the we say journal. he shut me off and said i want to know what the young people think about the work we're putting into it. he meant that. he asks when he's on the road

all the time. >> how do you think that my brother's keeper works to address issues that face young men of color without the erashier of problems that young women of color may face? >> one of the things that i think we need to highlight more and should have highlighted better at the beginning of mbk quite frankly is that the federal government cannot design programs that are race orgender exclusive. there's the u.s. constitution and then there's just fairness. all right. so while we have had of course an emphasis on boys and young men of color because of -- as the president mentioned in his own voice some of these disparities that trouble the society especially the case with them. everything we've designed around mbk is gender or race neutral. has to be. if you're attacking issues where the disparities are greatest, as

a matter of fact it's going to have a greater impact of boys and young men of color if that's where you're focusing on the disparities. by no way is what we're doing under mbk, especially from a federal task force work exclusive of helping girls. even helping all children quite frankly. >> so i believe this is going to be our last question. >> oh. >> and it's a two part question so that's okay. >> do you have a one part question? no. no. sorry. >> what is your most rewarding experience while at the university of michigan as a student, and also what experiences helped prepare you for your current role with mbk? so can i say something that's sort of frivolous is going to see -- what was his name?